Sole plate secured to club head by screws of different specific gravities

ABSTRACT

A golf club having a wooden head with the sole plate attached to the bottom of the head by screws, the heads of which screws are exposed, the fastening screws being selected from different materials and, therefore, of different weights for providing the desired balance of the head while at the same time securing the sole plate to the head.

United States Patent Inventor James E. IIollis Providence, RJ. AppL No.756,123 Filed Aug. 29, 1968 Patented Jan. 19, 1971 Assignee BancroftRacket Company a corporation of Rhode Island SOLE PLATE SECURED T0 CLUBHEAD BY SCREWS OF DIFFERENT SPECIFIC GRAVITIES 1 Claim, 5 Drawing Figs.

U.S. CL... 273/171 1nt.Cl A63b 53/08 Field of Search 273/169,

STAINLESS STEEL ALUMINUM [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS1,133,129 3/1915 Govan 273/171 1,518,316 12/1924 Ellingham 273/1712,056,335 10/1936 Wettlaufer 273/171X 2,756,055 7/1956 Bittner 273/173X3,305,235 2/1967 Williams, Jr. 273/79X 3,466,047 9/1969 Rodia et a1273/171 Primary ExaminerRichard C. Pinkham Assistant ExaminerRichard J.Apley Attorney-Barlow & Barlow ABSTRACT: A golf club having a woodenhead with the sole plate attached to the bottom of the head by screws,the heads of which screws are exposed, the fastening screws beingselected from different materials and, therefore, of different weightsfor providing the desired balance of the head while at the same timesecuring the sole plate to the head.

INVENTOR JAMES E. HOLLIS PATENTEU JAN 1 9 1971 FIG.5

ATTORNEYS SOLE PLATE SECURED TO CLUB HEAD BY SCREWS OF DIFFERENTSPECIFIC GRAVITIES BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION For many years golf clubshave been made in matched sets by weighting the heads of the club tobalance about a certain determined point by means of a swing weight"machine. Wooden clubs or clubs having a wooden head are usually providedwith a metal sole plate for protection of that head as it strikes andslides across the ground. Such a sole plate is held in position byscrews passing through openings in the sole plate with the heads of thescrews flush with the outer surface of the sole plate, and no attempthas been made to utilize such screws for any other purpose than forholding the plate in position. If a weight was to be added to the clubhead, such as the conventional wooden club head, some separate andadditional means have been provided for doing so completely independentof the screws which hold the plate in position, thus making anadditional and technical operation for the accurate weighting of thehead.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION This invention applies to a wooden club headhaving an attached sole plate held in position by means of screws andalso utilizing the screws for balancing the club head by making thescrews in identical physical dimensions but of different materials withvarious specific gravities and then selecting the proper number ofscrews of one or more materials until the head is weighted to thedesired extent to provide the proper balance.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a persepective view of agolf club head with the shaft broken away and showing the front edge ofthe sole plate;

FIG. 2 is a bottom plan view thereof;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a plurality of sole plate attachingscrews of different materials;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view on line 4-4 of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 5 is an elevation showing a step in the swing weighting of theclubs.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT In the drawings designates agolf club with a shaft 11 broken away, the head I2 being of wood orsynthetic material with a face 13 and a sole plate 14. The sole plate 14is attached to the bottom or sole of the head 12 by screws l5, l6, l7,l8 and 19, (FIG. 2), each of which screws is threaded as at forinsertion in the clubhead material and with a shank 21 tapered asillustrated. The screw head 22 is slotted as at 23 and beveled as at 24to fit into a companion beveled opening 25 in the sole plate 14 so as tosecure the sole plate firmly to the head I2 with the outer surface ofthe screw head flush with the outer surface of the sole plate.

The screws which hold the plate in position are ordinarily all of thesame material and are used solely for holding the plate in position.However, in the case of this invention the screws are made in identicalexterior dimensions from a variety of different materials with varyingspecific gravities which will be of different weights, such as brass,stainless steel, aluminum and lead, and the weight of the head of thegolf club may be varied easily and accurately by using screws ofdifferent materials in the several locations. Thus, the heaviest headmay be provided by using all lead screws, and the lightest head providedby using all aluminum screws, whereas intermediate weights of heads tothe players preference may be provided by choosing the brass or thestainless steel or in some cases there may be utilized screws ofdifferent materials in the same head. Thus, in order to make up theproper weight, a choice may be had of two or more of a variety ofmaterials.

The method of the present invention is of particular advantage in themaking of matched sets in which the clubs of the set are tested in theusual swing-weight machine W shown in FIG. 5 to determine the requiredamount of weight to be added or subtracted from the head with the screwseach of a known weight. These may be interchanged until that exactweight is obtained, while the screws do the double duty of holding theplate in position.

Further, by having a number of screws located at various locations inthe bottom of the head, some torsional balance of the head may be madeby interchanging the screws of one weight with the screws of anotherweight in the center or closer to the face or heel of the club tomitigate the tendency of a player to slice" or hook. Thus, a largevariety of fine weightings-may be provided easily and personally withoutany special construction modification of the club but merely byutilizing ordinary screw sockets primarily intended to hold the plate inposition.

If desired, it may be found helpful to use large size screws in order toget a greater scope of weights than would occur if the screws were ofthe usual small diameter.

I claim:

I. A golf club having a head with a sole plate over its bottom surface,said sole plate having at least three holes, a screw positioned in eachof said holes to secure said sole plate to the bottom of said head, eachof said screws being of identical physical dimensions but of differentspecific gravities thereby weighting and balancing the head as desired.

1. A golf club having a head with a sole plate over its bottom surface,said sole plate having at least three holes, a screw positioned in eachof said holes to secure said sole plate to the bottom of said head, eachof said screws being of identical physical dimensions but of differentspecific gravities thereby weighting and balancing the head as desired.